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The Drishti Investigation Standard

Evidence before conclusion

A structured methodology for lawful public-source investigation, source provenance, evidence preservation, transparent assessment, and defensible reporting.

Lawful collection

Research is limited to lawful sources and authorised investigative activity.

Source provenance

Material findings retain traceability to where the underlying information came from.

Evidence preservation

Important source material can be preserved with retrieval context so later assessments remain auditable.

Reliability assessment

Official records, primary sources, credible reporting, and secondary material are not treated as equally authoritative.

Freshness

Information can become stale. Material findings should be assessed against when the evidence was published or retrieved.

Contradictions

Conflicting evidence is surfaced rather than silently collapsed into a convenient conclusion.

Defensible reporting

Reports identify evidence, assessment, confidence, limitations, and unresolved questions.

Assessment language

Separate evidence from reasoning

Verified Fact

Directly supported by traceable evidence.

Inference

A reasoned interpretation based on established evidence.

Hypothesis

A proposition that still requires additional evidence or testing.

Unknown

A material point that available evidence cannot presently establish.

Core principle

Search results are discovery. AI output is analysis assistance. Neither is evidence by itself.

A useful investigation must be able to show what supports an important claim, where that material came from, how current it is, and where uncertainty remains.

Boundaries

What Drishti does not do

Public-source intelligence is not a licence to intrude into private systems, accounts, or personal lives.

Unauthorised access to systems, accounts, or devices

Credential harvesting or password acquisition

Private-account intrusion

Doxxing or unnecessary exposure of personal information

Unlawful surveillance or tracking

Presenting speculation or AI-generated text as verified evidence

Need evidence-led research for a real decision?

Start with the question you need answered and the decision the research is intended to support.